Announcements

Sharing our prayer practices: Beulah Baptist & Cincinnati Friends, May 25

Please plan to attend our Saturday, May 25 prayer gathering with our friends from Beulah Baptist Missionary Church from 1-3 pm as we share our faith practices as a large group and, more intimately, our personal experiences in smaller groups. We will host this event at the Cincinnati Friends Meetinghouse.

Bring a snack to share for food and fellowship afterward. Sign up on the sheet outside the meetingroom or contact Cathy Barney, nurturer for spiritual growth & outreach, at cathybarney@cincinnatifriends.org. Let her know if you’d be willing to co-facilitate a small group.

This Sunday

Items on the agenda for the Meeting for Worship with attention to business:

In addition to the regular committee reports, the Nominating Committee will share the slate of officers, committees and task coordinators for 7/1/24-6/2025.  There will also be a proposal to form Stewardship of the Earth and We Care committees (currently ad hoc committees).

Chairs for the New Conversation Table

 

Now that the chairs for the conversation circle have been finally approved and assembled, Trustees invite you to consider donating one of them in memory of a loved one, a friend, or someone in the Meeting. Chairs, including a 1" x 3" engraved brass plate, cost $125 each. Please contact the office or any trustee if you are interested.

Bethany House Spring Donation Drive – Bethany Basics Kit (formerly Whole home starter kit)

When a family leaves shelter, they receive a Bethany Basics Basket. This basket contains items that families need to establish their new homes, such as bedding, bathroom supplies, kitchen equipment, cleaning, supplies, and more.  (from bethanyhouseservices.org)

In recent years Cincinnati Friends Meeting has generously supported Bethany House Services through monetary donations from the meeting, and from the members and attenders, holiday gift cards and household items. This year Bethany House is asking groups, if possible, to fill an entire Bethany Basics Kit that includes items for the bedroom, kitchen, bath, and cleaning supplies.

The Peace & Social Concerns Committee is again taking on the challenging goal of providing one complete Bethany Basics Kit for a family in need by July 1, 2024. If you would like to help P&SC Committee reach our goal, please consider one of the following actions:

  • Sign up to purchase a specific item or items from the list. Here is a copy of the signup sheet to review before you signup.
    • Add your name to the sign-up sheet on the table at the entry to the Meeting Room 
    • Or email Mary Wittrock at rockw3558@gmail.com to request her to put your name next to the item(s) you wish to donate on the sign-up sheet.
  • Send in a monetary donation and a committee member will shop for you! We will use your donation to fill in the remaining needs from the list. This worked well last year to purchase the larger items like air mattresses & bed bug covers.
    • For checks, write Bethany Basics Kit in the memo line.
    • For online donations write Bethany Basics Kit in the comment section of the online donation form. Donate securely at cincinnatifriends.org.

 Bethany House Services is only accepting new items.

(Also note: Due to storage issues at Bethany House and direction from them, we will only be collecting items from the list. No clothing, other household goods, nor items not on this list please)

 Please place all items on the benches outside of the library as you bring them into the Meeting House.

We are excited to support a family as they prepare for a new beginning!

To learn more about Bethany House Services go to bethanyhouseservices.org.

The Peace & Social Concerns Committee thanks you, once again, for your continued support. Hopefully, the goal of collecting items for a “complete” Bethany Basics Kit can be reached again in 2024.

New—Online Donation Option Change

In response to multiple requests, online donations can now be set up via our website as a recurring donation at a interval of your choice. When you make a donation, you can specify whether the amount should be donated every week month, quarter, or year. There is also an option to help cover the credit card processing fees. For CFM, as a non-profit, the processing fee is 1.99% of the donation, plus a 49-cent per-transaction fee.
Thank you for your generosity!

Help partner with Beulah Baptist in summer youth camp, July 12-14

Cincinnati Friends and our partner, Beulah Missionary Baptist Church, are hosting a youth camp for primary through 9th grades at Quaker Knoll Camp on Cowan Lake, Friday, July 12 to Sunday, July 14. We will need all sorts of volunteers, so please mark your calendar.

Tentatively titled “Unplugging together: a youth camp embracing faith, inclusion and nature,” the camp serves these functions:

  • Bringing together youth of different faith practices; and
  • Helping campers unplug from technology and into God's natural beauty.

Camp begins on Friday evening with dinner, a preview, introductory activities and vesper service. Saturday includes quiet time, playshops, a possible field trip and talent show. Campers will depart Sunday after breakfast and morning worship.

Please let Cathy Barney, cathybarney@hotmail.com, know if you can help with transportation, cooking, games, activities, talent show or being a Friendly presence.

Look for more information in the coming weeks.

EDUCATORS past and present, interested learners… We need you!

What? Help the Meeting assess the need for and assemble a proposal of responsibilities for an Education and Spiritual Nurture Committee.

How? Share your knowledge, your experience, your ideas with others who value and want to support education and spiritual nurture for all ages.

When? Group would meet as individual schedules allow. This can be a short-term commitment.

Contact? Linda Daigle ldaigle3@yahoo.com if you are interested.

A Call to the Community—First Day School

Are you willing to teach First Day School for one Sunday? There is a curriculum all set to use so no pre planning required!

We need volunteers to help with First day School for the 3rd grade and older class. You can select any Sunday starting in September.

Would you consider taking on a Sunday?  A signup sheet with the dates and topics of each class is on a clipboard located on the hall table. If there are no children that day, join us in worship.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Linda Daigle (ldaigle3@yahoo.com) or Nan Hatch (nan.hatch@gmail.com).

Thank you for considering. It’s a rewarding opportunity!

Food Bank Sunday

Food Pantry Sundays

Cincinnati Friends Meeting supports local food pantries by collecting non-perishable food and personal care items at our meetinghouse. (Plastic tubs for contributions are located in the entryway.) Although we collect these donations throughout the year, we put special emphasis on doing so on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. On these day, we give particular thought to the hungry in our community.

The Peace & Social Concerns Committee is contributing CFM’s donations to the Loveland Life Pantry.  Currently, Freestore Foodbank does not accept individual donations.

Current greatest need at Loveland Life Pantry: 

SENIORS: Ensure/Boost

FOOD: Canned Chicken, Canned Fruit, Mixed Vegetables, Canned Carrots, Cereal, Coffee, Flour, Manwich/Sloppy Joe, Ramen, Spaghetti

HOUSEHOLD & PAPER GOODS: Dish Soap, Laundry Detergent, Paper Towels

Sunday Hospitality Information

On the first  Sundays of each month we welcome all to join together in the Fireside Room for fellowship and a potluck lunch after meeting for worship. Feel free to bring any type of "potluck" food to share (prepared dishes you can readily set out). Please join us!

Coffee will be offered after every Sunday service in the Fireside room to give folks a chance to mingle.

~ The Hospitality Committee

Kroger Community Rewards Program

Kroger pays up to $1,250,000 on a quarterly basis to participating organizations based on their percentage of spending as it relates to the total spending of all participating Kroger Community Rewards Organizations.

To support Cincinnati Friends Meeting through your Kroger purchases, go to www.krogercommunityrewards.com and choose Cinti Monthly Meeting/Religious Society of Friends, code: pi373.

Once a household member enrolls their card, all linked Kroger Plus Cards within that household begin earning rewards. The Peace and Social Concerns Committee disperses these funds to local organizations supported by the Meeting. Feel free to share our Kroger number with friends and family. Every time a member, attender, family, family friend, or neighbor of our Meeting shops at Kroger and uses their Kroger Plus Card, we earn rewards!